After loving the opening issue of Brigantia I was keen to see where this series by co-creators Chris Mole & Melissa Trender would go next…..so it was time for getting caught up on the second in the series.
After Brigantia’s betrayal at the hands of her brother, Veteris, she’s starting to get used to live in modern day Britain but the actions of her brother and the ease at which she fell for it are still working heavy on her mind. That life may seem faraway for her but she’s determined to find a route back to her own time any way that she can.
She gets a fresh glimmer of hope when she meets local Archaeologist Anna at a dig site in her ancestral home in the Peak District. Here she finds out that some recent discoveries could help her find her way back to her own time but Veteris is still putting up barriers for his sister to prevent her from returning home. The clues she DOES find help her and a return to London’s Museum of Antiquities brings her another step closer to finding a way back but now that she has become a target for her brother he goes on the attack.
Chris builds on the intricacies of the opening issue here but he really gets into his stride with introducing new characters, developing the ones we’ve already seen and injecting the past and present with a mythology that takes on a life of it’s own. While we’ve seen characters displaced to another time across any number of different types of other stories it’s the attention to detail here that really captures the imagination. That’s partly thanks to the input of Pagan consultant Limnaia Areia but also the fact that Chris has gone all-in with committing to building a world to fall in love with.
Backing that up is Melissa & Harriet Moulton on art and you can really see the detail in the work as they go about capturing the essence of the characters in all their glory as the story continues. The mythical elements are slid into modern surroundings, and vice versa to a certain extent, but the glow from the pages just draws you in from the very beginning. The hustle & bustle of city life, the calmness of the great outdoors and the crackle of a world of magic are all laid out across some beautiful pages. Kudos goes to Aditya Bidikar on lettering too as he manages to hold the attention with his control over the narration & dialogue that are poured into the book and it rounds off a team that are hitting the heights page after page.
There’s no doubt that the story has really developed as the issues have become a reality but settling into a world has never seemed so effortless than in this second issue and with the momentum keeping that story flowing so well it’s easy to get lost in this one. The mythology has the weight of history too it which helps elevate things away from feeling like they’re forced together too much and that natural character development helps this settle into a steady mix of wonder, awe & excitement.
Pick up these issues over on Chris’ Online Store or check out Comixology or the Comichaus website or app.
You can get hold of a collected edition of the first three issues soon too and can get signed up for notifications on the campaign link below:
Brigantia Volume 1 Kickstarter
You can also keep up-to-date with the creators through the links below:
9/10
G-Man
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